MIAMI — Sam Bennett’s temporary locker in the Miami Marlins clubhouse sat unattended.
They said he was coming out in 10 minutes on media day at the Winter Classic to talk, then five minutes, then not at all.
He wasn’t ready to face any questions — not for public consumption, not yet, not this soon — after shockingly being left off the list of 25 men named to the Canadian Olympic team on Wednesday.
“Sam is a man of few words at the best of times,” said Paul Maurice, the coach of the back-to-back champion Florida Panthers, who admits he was stunned that Bennett’s name was not included among the 25 players named to Team Canada for the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Maurice spoke to Bennett early Thursday morning and like most of his conversations with his Conn Smythe Trophy winner, it didn’t last particularly long
“I said, ‘I’m sorry,’” said Maurice.
Bennett nodded and said: “Thanks.” The two shook hands.
“There was not much more to say than that,” said Maurice.
Bennett playing best hockey of his life
The thinking all season long was that there was likely to be three Panthers suiting up for Team Canada in Italy. That wasn’t a sure thing, but it sure seemed like one.
Sam Reinhart was among the original six named to the Canadian roster. Brad Marchand played his way onto the Canadian roster with a terrific first half of the NHL season after a terrific Stanley Cup playoffs for Florida.
Bennett had the terrific playoffs scoring 15 goals and after a slow start to this season, Maurice said the last month has been the best hockey Bennett has played. Almost everyone around the Panthers — including general manager Bill Zito — expected him to be Olympic bound.
So did the Olympians Reinhart and Marchand.
When asked what he thought of Bennett being left off Team Canada, Reinhart answered as politically correctly as he could. But it was clear he didn’t really understand the decision.
“There’s not much you can say about it,” said Reinhart. “He’s put so much into it. You could sit here and say so many guys have earned their way onto the team. But at the end of the day, it’s out of our control.
“All I can say is we’ve played with him for years and he’s a guy you’d want to go to war with any day of the week.”
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He’s Marchand without the natural offence and the act that goes along with it. Three years in a row, Bennett has played in the Stanley Cup final. Two years in a row he has been among the best Panthers players in the playoffs. Last June, he won the Conn Smythe Trophy.
Bennett, not known for being an offensive player, scored 17 points in 15 games in December, seven of them goals. Over the last three playoff seasons, Bennett has scored 27 goals. The only players to outscore him in that time: His teammate Reinhart and the future Hall of Famer Leon Draisaitl.
Team Canada general manager Doug Armstrong has been consistent in one way while going though the difficult process of naming an Olympic team. He said he was going to take the best players to make the best team. He was going to take the players playing the best in the first half of this NHL season.
“In my opinion,” said Maurice, “in the last 27 games (Bennett) is playing the best hockey of his career.
“I was really proud of him when he got named (to the 4 Nations team) last year. But it also meant somebody (else) didn’t. A good player didn’t. So I want to be respectful of that.
“So I’ll just critique Sam. He’s got two Stanley Cups. He was part of the 4 Nations. He won the Conn Smythe.”
Then Maurice said: “Team Canada’s got a helluva team.
Tough choices, curious ones, too
Marchand wasn’t sure he was getting picked until the phone call made it official on Wednesday. He couldn’t have been happier with his selection — knowing how much it means to him at this stage of his career — but there was a touch of sadness for his teammate Bennett.
He was thrilled to be chosen by Team Canada. Not thrilled that Bennett was left off the Canadian roster.
Sam Bennett of Team Canada celebrates with Brandon Hagel after scoring a goal against Connor Hellebuyck of Team United States during the second period in the NHL 4 Nations Face-Off Championship Game at TD Garden on Feb. 20, 2025, in Boston, Mass.
It is not lost on the Panthers players that Bennett was left off the Canadian team while Anthony Cirelli and Brandon Hagel and pre-selection choice Brayden Point are all going to the Games representing the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Three members of the Lightning. Two for the Panthers. The rivalry continues, real or imagined.
Florida and Tampa Bay have won four of the last six Stanley Cups. This month they become the first two Florida teams to house outdoor games in the least likely of outdoor settings. Reinhart and Point were named to the Olympic team last June, even though Point is having a rather weak season for him. These two franchises compete over everything, including how many players get Olympic invitations.
Now in fairness, Bennett isn’t the only 4 Nations player to not get an Olympic invitation. Forwards Seth Jarvis and Travis Konecny were also left off the Olympic team. Their omissions were not as drastic as that of Mark Scheifele, the fourth leading Canadian scorer in the NHL who has agreed to be an injury fill-in if need be. Jarvis has also agreed to play the fill-in part, as has young Connor Bedard.
Another snub: Bennett wasn’t asked.